The Herald:

Back at the beginning of this year the 30 nominees for The Angoulême Grand Prix, one of the most prestigious European prizes for comic book creators, were named. It was a wide-ranging list, taking in American mainstream comic book creators, indie cartoonists and some of the biggest names in European comics. A substantial, worthy list, you might think. With just one tiny problem.

It was exclusively male. In its 30 names there was no room for even one single woman.

This did not go down well. Soon, male nominees began to withdraw in complaint.

As a result the organisers finally added the names of Posy Simmonds and Marjane Satrapi to the list. (Never has the phrase “token women” been so clearly applicable and, given the talent of both those women, so insulting.)

The insult was compounded when said organisers then issued a statement claiming that it wasn’t in favour of positive discrimination and that “the Festival cannot remake the history of comics”; the suggestion being that women’s role in the history of comics was one that didn’t merit much attention.

The phrase “if you’re in a hole stop digging” springs to mind. Unsurprisingly none of this went down well. In response BD Égalité  (aka The Women in Comics Collective Against Sexism) wrote on their website: “What is the message sent to women cartoonists and those in the process of becoming such?" We are discouraged from having ambition, from continuing our efforts. How could we take it otherwise?

"It all comes back to the disastrous glass ceiling,” the statement continued. “We're tolerated, but never allowed top billing. Will we require women in comics to perpetually play second fiddle?"

Park that question for a moment. Coincidentally this February saw London gallery House of Illustration open an exhibition that highlighted the work of 100 women cartoon creators including (deep breath) Simmonds and the likes of Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Alison Bechdel, Annie Goetzinger, Audrey Niffenegger, Barbara Yelin, Claire Bretecher, Donya Todd, Karrie Fransman, Alison Sampson (that's her image below), Lynda Barry, Roz Chast, Rutu Modan, and Tove Jansson, to name but 15. Even that partial list takes in veterans and newbies from Europe and America, all of them bringing distinct and distinctive flavours to the table.

The Herald:

The exhibition covers mainstream and indie, ranges in time from the 1920s to the present day and from science fiction to social realism. In short, all (female) human life is here.

The result is wide-ranging and enjoyable, but you do wonder if a male version of this show would be welcomed or even necessary?

Probably not. But, as cartoonist Kate Charlesworth, whose work is also included in the exhibition, suggests, Comix Creatix is a chance to redress the balance.

And its existence might help open doors to women who don’t think comics are for them because they simply don’t see women’s cartooning.

In short it might act as a corrective to the Angouleme idea of female second-fiddleness in the world of comics.

Because, as the exhibition proves, that just makes no sense at all if you are paying attention. From Tove Jansson’s sweetly surreal Moomins strips to Bangladeshi cartoonist Kaveri Gopalakrishnan and Nepal’s Kripa Joshi playing around with superhero tropes, Comix Creatix is a reflection of female cartoon creativity.

(If you want more evidence you could also dip into Fantagraphics’ massive compilation, The Complete Wimmin’s Comix, a monster repackaging of the influential underground American comic, a publication that we will return to in Graphic Content at a later date.)

The exhibition is also a reminder of strips that deserve to be rediscovered such as Pat Tourett’s gorgeous art for Tiffany Jones, the story of a 1960s independent young woman which debuted in the Daily Sketch and Torchy in Heartbeats which dates from the late 1930s, and is the work of Jackie Ormes, the first African-American woman to create a syndicated comic strip. This is quite a rich, deep history, one that hardly needs remaking; though a little more promotion wouldn’t hurt.

 The fact is female cartoonists have always been in plain view. If only the men behind Angouleme had bothered to look.

Edinburgh-based cartoonist Kate Charlesworth is one of the creators whose work is included in Comix Creatix. Here she gives us her own response to the exhibition.

Why do we need it?  Angouleme in a nutshell, I guess; but there’s so much misogyny in the mainstream comics world.  At the consumer level, in some areas (superheroes, that ilk) I believe some men resent the presence of women in “their” sub-culture.  It can lead to bullying and worse…

And… to explode the myth that women don’t do, and haven’t done, this sort of thing.

What does it tell us…?  A lot.  Specific artists and genres I’d never heard of (I’m not claiming huge knowledge here) - black American women drawing and writing comics; women drawing pornography;  women involved in the underground scene, and newer comics - and the work of Charlotte Salomon (a German-Jewish artist killed in Auschwitz in 1943) whose beautiful narrative paintings comprise an astonishing graphic narrative.  

Whose work caught your eye?  Catherine Anyango’s superb layered drawings on translucent paper, reinterpreting Conrad’s Heart of Darkness; Laura Howell’s Benjamin Britten and his Embittered Bittern from Viz made me laugh; Mirror #1 by Hwei Lim (from Malaysia, with Emma Rios from Spain) - a magical fantasy in translucent colour and elegant pencil.

Comix Creatix continues at the House of Illustration until May 15. Visit houseofillustration.org.uk for more details.